How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor — Episode 10
"What?"
I blinked at Choi Ran like an idiot, unable to figure out what she was getting at. I didn't want to come across as a man whose soul had left his body, but maybe it was because she was so young—her words simply weren't landing.
"Where did you go? What are you even talking about?"
"That man said it earlier. That you'd been agonizing over whether to take acting lessons."
Choi Ran jerked her chin toward Park Sang-in, who was lurking in the corner. He looked flustered at the sudden, rude callout, but she couldn't have cared less, turning right back to me.
"I'm asking where you took the lessons. An academy? A private coach? Do you carry around a business card? If it's referral-only, could you refer me? Do that, and I'll pay you a proper finder's fee."
The machine-gun barrage left my head spinning. Is this girl an actress or a rapper? How does she talk that fast?
And before she'd even finished, everyone in the room started glancing our way. They were all pretending not to listen while angling one ear toward us, and it dawned on me that this must have been exactly what they were so curious about when they were staring at me earlier.
So if she's asking that question...
It meant the acting I'd just done wasn't bad. She was convinced my skills had improved enough since before that lessons were the only explanation.
Well, well. Look at that.
See? Turns out I actually can do this.
Part of me ached to think of how terrible the original Yoo Seul-ho must have been to earn this kind of reaction, but days of grinding at it were finally paying off, and that felt good.
If it came to the worst, I was ready to give up acting and find another way out.
Hyun Jin-gae had told me more than once that I was fine, but I'd never put much stock in it. Yet here was Choi Ran—fairly famous in her own right as a former child actress—along with the other actors eavesdropping on this very conversation, all of them veterans of the industry, and none of them finding my acting off-putting. That was a relief.
"I never took lessons."
"...Pardon?"
Choi Ran's brow furrowed deep. Every line of that crease between her eyebrows practically spelled out where are you trying to run your scam.
It was fascinating to watch a face move with such total freedom, and strangely, none of it rubbed me the wrong way—which was fascinating in itself.
If Woo Jun-seo pulled that face at me, I'd have no problem knocking his teeth in right here.
Her remarks had been outright rude from the moment she opened her mouth, but... something about it was like a baby chick chirping away all by itself. It just didn't land.
When I kept staring at her in silence, she started to press harder. Or tried to.
"Just tell me. If it wasn't lessons, then how on earth did you go from that hopeless mess you were to—"
"HEY!!"
It was only because a woman who'd been watching us from across the room came sprinting over and cracked Choi Ran hard across the back that the sentence died.
WHAP!
"Ow!"
The smack was loud enough, and the shriek louder, that everyone around us—including PD Jang, who'd been off in another world with the assistant directors for a while now—jumped. But the woman who'd hit Choi Ran ignored every wide-eyed stare, hands on hips and absolutely fuming.
"You little punk! How many times have I told you not to be rude to other people?! Where did you learn to act like this? Is this how you've been doing social life all along? I'm embarrassed, honestly. If this is how you're going to be, quit being a celebrity!"
"I was just curious, so I asked... ow."
"I hit you so it would hurt! Curiosity or not, you take things like that up with someone privately and politely, afterward! Can't you even manage that much judgment? Are you twenty-three or thirteen?! You said you'd changed, but if you keep pulling this crap, I quit as your manager!"
"Ah—no! I'm sorry, unni. It won't happen again."
Choi Ran, who'd been sulking through the whole lecture, went rigid at that last line and began groveling in earnest.
Everyone stood frozen, dumbfounded by the two-woman show that had broken out out of nowhere.
What in the world...
That delicate, elegant face, that coolly aloof way of speaking. From the way she hadn't exchanged a single private word with any other actor since before the table read, I'd picked up a hint of arrogance from her.
And now that same girl was bowing and scraping like a five-year-old caught misbehaving by her mother. The whiplash was unreal.
"I'm so sorry, Seul-ho-ssi. She just hasn't grown up yet..."
While everyone else stood around wondering what on earth to say, the woman—presumably the manager—bowed her head to me over and over in apology.
Watching a woman who looked barely half my age groveling on my behalf made my stomach twist with discomfort.
"Please, don't. I'm fine, really."
"I should have drilled some manners into her years ago. Honestly, she looks like that, but she's not a bad kid at heart. Let me apologize in her place."
"I genuinely don't mind."
But the manager wouldn't hear it, declaring she was going to take Choi Ran out to the hallway for a few swings, grabbing her by the back of the neck, and dragging her out.
"...What did I just witness?"
"Ran-ssi is... not who I thought she was."
PD Jang murmured it under his breath, eyes glazed. Everyone else looked the same. It was like a hurricane had torn through and vanished, leaving the whole room blinking stupidly in its wake.
This industry really is full of lunatics.
How was it that not a single sane person existed here?
I scratched my head, then worried the manager might actually kill Choi Ran out there, and followed them into the hallway.
"Aigoo! Aigoo! You're going to be the death of me!"
"Ow, unni! Ack!"
The moment I rounded the corner into the long corridor, the sound of the manager laying into Choi Ran echoed from far down the hall.
She's actually hitting her.
Even from here, the thuds sounded solid. I deliberated for about two seconds over just walking away, then gave up on the idea.
"Manager-nim, I really am fine. If this is because of me, please stop."
Only after I stepped in did she cease fire, laughing in embarrassment.
"And a kind heart on top of everything. You must have been startled. Oh—I never introduced myself, did I? I'm Choi Yoon, Choi Ran's manager."
"Ah... so you're sisters. Nice to meet you. I'm Yoo Seul-ho."
Huh. Now that I hear the name, they really do look alike.
Where Choi Ran gave off an air of elegant, untouchable distance, Choi Yoon had a warm, crinkly-eyed smile that pulled you right in.
"I haven't been managing her for very long. She was such a sweet baby, but growing up alone in Seoul doing this work since she was little, the attitude just kept... ah! You and Ran go way back, don't you, Seul-ho-ssi?"
Choi Yoon's face lit up mid-excuse. I fumbled for a second over how to answer, but Choi Ran—apparently miffed that I was chatting with her sister—had already gone sulky again and muttered,
"We knew each other, yeah. We're not close now. This oppa insists on being alone more and more these days."
"Hey! I told you to watch your mouth—"
"Yoon-ssi, I'm really fine."
"Whew, Seul-ho-ssi... I'll be counting on you going forward. Every time she crosses the line, I'll beat her half to death for you, so please don't hold it against her."
It was a promise to pummel her own sister, yet affection poured out of every word. I gave Choi Yoon a light smile, and a thoroughly disgruntled Choi Ran muttered, "When did you two even get so friendly, Yoon-ssi, Seul-ho-ssi? Honestly..."
They're cute, both of them.
Back when I'd lived as a loan shark, and even after landing in Yoo Seul-ho's body, my surroundings had been wall-to-wall men—mostly the kind I'd have loved to knock a few teeth out of. But watching a pair of sisters whose love for each other radiated that strongly, something in my own chest loosened, warm and slow.
"So did you really not take lessons? You're not lying?"
"Nope. Not that I know of."
"What does that even mean—no wait, so you just taught yourself and improved that fast? You were really, really bad before, you know."
"Choi Ran!"
"It's fine, Yoon-ssi."
Choi Yoon looked ready to seize her sister by the hair, so I cut in quickly.
"Then I take it you thought my acting just now was decent."
"No."
"...?"
When I tilted my head, Choi Ran said it flat-faced.
"...It wasn't just decent. It was the best acting I've seen recently, period. Didn't you see Woo Jun-seo-ssi? He was practically grinding his teeth trying not to get overshadowed by you. His pupils were shaking when the take ended."
At that deadpan compliment, the corner of my mouth lifted before I could stop it. What was this feeling? Like being praised by a five-year-old nephew?
"Thanks. I'll have to work even harder, then."
"Whatever. Let's get back to the table read. And don't hog all the secrets—teach me your method too. It's a dirty shame when a supporting actor outperforms the lead."
"You're pretty good yourself, you know. And it might just be that I'm playing a type I've never done before."
"Fair. You only ever played nice-guy roles because of your parents, right?"
"...Sorry?"
She said it so offhandedly that I froze mid-step.
She knows about Yoo Seul-ho's parents?
I'd assumed that outside of a full background investigation, there was no way to dig up anything about his past. An unexpected windfall. I smoothed my expression fast.
"Did I? I don't remember that."
"Don't play dumb. You told me yourself, ages ago, at the child actors' meetup."
Ah. Of course.
I was wondering how Choi Ran and Yoo Seul-ho knew each other when they'd never been in the same production.
So there'd been a gathering like that.
"And who was it that said he couldn't take on different roles because of his parents?"
"Oh my—your parents? You mean actor Yoo Tae-ho and actress Lee Seul-myeong, right? I'm a genuine fan of both of them."
At Choi Yoon's careful, eye-reading remark, I offered a quiet smile. But Choi Ran, who checked no one's face for anything, carried on like it was nothing.
"Until I heard your story, I thought our parents were the worst people alive. You made me revise my rankings. But judging by the role you picked this time, I guess things are a little different now?"
"Well... a little?"
"Good for you. Honestly, if I were you, I'd have quit acting ages ago and survived on part-time work alone. What's the point of being a dutiful son? You keep that up and you're lucky if you don't end up depressed and killing yourself."
"..."
The bluntness of it made me swallow without meaning to. There was no way this girl could know that Yoo Seul-ho had made exactly that kind of choice—and yet the words just wouldn't come.
"You are truly..."
Choi Yoon sighed deeply and raised her hand to smack her sister again. Dodging it with practiced ease, Choi Ran slipped past me and murmured, just loud enough to catch,
"Back then, oppa, you really seemed to hate acting. You don't seem to hate it now, so... I'm glad."
That left me even more at a loss for words.
Yoo Seul-ho hated acting?
The day the script reading wrapped, I'd barely gotten back to my hotel room when an email arrived from the Heungsinso. The first round of their investigation into Yoo Seul-ho was complete.